Big push to add a 14th team. WKy and Temple all-sports from what the buzz is. MAC missed a chance to add WKY before and now they realize they made a mistake in not adding them. They will demand basketball from Temple long term. Deal with Congressional Bowl put the ball in the MAC's corner.
would be a good move if we can get both. temple and wky bball would improve the league and give it breadth. both are also good in women's hoops. football wise they add some new blood, expand recruiting bases a little and provide good stadiums. as for low profile sports it means some longer/more expensive road trips. i always that the road weary aspect of these additions countered their benefits (not necessarily outweighed them). but with the reemergence of traditionally strong hoop programs at both schools the equation has shifted towards adding them.
the mac would potentially have 6-7 top 100 bball teams a yr and be a routine 2-3 bid league. plus, with buffalo and ball st looking like they may be straightening out their programs the league is loosening some of its drag.
Linky?
Are our intrepid MAC Webexperts (vandelay, hurondave) in attendance?
It doesn't appear that many of the WKU faithful are excited about the prospect of moving the the MAC.
Would it be bad if we kept Temple football only and added WKU all sports?
13 teams in basketball, you could drop the divsions and simply schedule 6 teams twice and play 6 teams once for 18 game league schedule. It would be great if Temple brought basketball, but if not at least WKU would help.
Howver, I would guess that the MAC does not offer WKU unless Temple agrees to bring all sports. I think it would be a hard sell to get Temple to commit all sports. Although adding WKU might be enough for Temple. You would have traditionally good basketball schools in:
Ohio
Miami
W Kentucky
Kent State
Temple
Looks like a strong set of basketball programs!
If Temple says no, do we go back to just 12 then??
I honestly enjoy Temple in the MAC, most of the posters on here are quality people you have a few bad eggs but that is no different then any other school. I am hopeful they bring basketball and we add Western Kentucky, solid move IMO, I hope it goes through!
mpurdy22 Wrote:Would it be bad if we kept Temple football only and added WKU all sports?
13 teams in basketball, you could drop the divsions and simply schedule 6 teams twice and play 6 teams once for 18 game league schedule. It would be great if Temple brought basketball, but if not at least WKU would help.
Howver, I would guess that the MAC does not offer WKU unless Temple agrees to bring all sports. I think it would be a hard sell to get Temple to commit all sports. Although adding WKU might be enough for Temple. You would have traditionally good basketball schools in:
Ohio
Miami
W Kentucky
Kent State
Temple
Looks like a strong set of basketball programs!
If Temple says no, do we go back to just 12 then??
ball state is a traditionally good hoops school if you go from 20 years back until a couple years ago. from 89 to about 04 they were among the top mid majors in the country and had the best fan support in the league.
toledo has a lot of bball history too, one of the nations top teams in the 40s and a regional power from mid 60s through mid 80s with winning teams 10 of the past 12 yrs and traditionally strong fan support (that's waned a bit in recent yrs)
akron has averaged about 25 wins a yr the past 3 seasons and has a strong supporter in lebron james.
so I'd say this possible move would give the league 8 strong programs assuming the new coaches at UT and Ball st are as capable as they appear to be. that would rival the A10 and be better than the sun belt.
think how the emergence of xavier from being good to great and teams like st joes and umass having a good stretch changed the A10 from a mid major to essentially a top tier conference. likewise, the valley parlayed the improvements in a few programs with some savvy scheduling and institutional support to become a premier league. if you look at those 8 teams the mac could turn the corner as a league and be consistently in that group of leagues (a10, mwc, valley) just a notch below the acc/big east/ big10 instead of occasionally reaching that level but seldom getting the bids or recognition.
BGSUalum1987 Wrote:Linky?
Are our intrepid MAC Webexperts (vandelay, hurondave) in attendance?
My guess linky is Kit Cat.
It seems like a good idea right now, and if it happens the MAC will become the largest D-I football conference in the nation. I am not sure what that will create in terms of national perception. Maybe we should strike a marketing deal with McDonalds and change the name of the conference to the Big-MAC.
Also, I found the link from where this info seems to be coming from. Anybody with ESPN insider access care to confirm?
http://blog.mlive.com/fireupchips/2008/0..._team.html
Quote:Will the MAC expand to 14 teams?
Posted by Steven Rosso May 28, 2008 19:46PM
There is a real possibility of the MAC moving to 14 teams in the very near future. According to college basketball insider Andy Katz of ESPN, the MAC is in discussions to bring in Western Kentucky and Temple for all sports. For one thing, this would create a huge conference, one of the biggest in basketball and the biggest in football. This would definitely be nice for football, as having a 13 team conference makes divisions and scheduling a huge problem. Both Western Kentucky and Temple are getting stronger in football, and are both pretty good in basketball already. This would seem to be a winning situation for the MAC.
May 28, ESPN.com The MAC meetings are going on in Chicago, and according to a coach in attendance, there was more talk about expanding the league to 14 teams with adding Temple (Atlantic 10 for all sports but football) and Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) as full members. Temple plays a MAC schedule in football and has added MAC nonconference games for basketball. This kind of decision would be made for football, but if they did ever join the league in hoops, it would make this league even tougher and potentially put it in position to earn multiple bids (which hasn't happened since 1999).
"think how the emergence of xavier from being good to great and teams like st joes and umass having a good stretch changed the A10 from a mid major to essentially a top tier conference. likewise, the valley parlayed the improvements in a few programs with some savvy scheduling and institutional support to become a premier league. if you look at those 8 teams the mac could turn the corner as a league and be consistently in that group of leagues (a10, mwc, valley) just a notch below the acc/big east/ big10 instead of occasionally reaching that level but seldom getting the bids or recognition."
All of those schools have one thing in common, no I-A football.
I can't see WKU leaving the Sun Belt. The schools are closer and almost all Southern.
Why are some people, or media sources, acting like the MAC having 14 teams is something new and unprecedented? That was also the previous membership size in 2002, 2003, and 2004 when Marshall and Central Florida were around.
Why are some people, or media sources, acting like the MAC having 14 teams is something new and unprecedented? That was also the previous membership size in 2002, 2003, and 2004 when Marshall and Central Florida were around.
Not to mention the WAC once had 16 teams and Big East Basketball currently has 132 squads in its league.
The expansion to 14 sounds like a done deal. We knew that Temple was an impending addition because of the way the football only deal was structured.
Historical Importance of Expansion
1992 Mickey MAC
Akron
Kent
Ohio
Miami
Bowling Green
Toledo
EMU
WMU
CMU
Ball State
1997- Desperate to shake its red headed step child of Division 1-A football reputation the MAC adds Marshall, NIU, and Buffalo to go over the 12 members required for a championship game. Coming back to the MAC for NIU and Marshall is mainly an all sports decision with travel proximity in mind.
This move was exclusively centered around football. Basketball at the time was considered the MAC's strength in the mid 90's.
2002- The MAC had finally shown some progress on the football field and with a second bowl in tow was moving forward in the national landscape. A growing Central Florida program is ready to accept MAC membership as a football only to balance at 14 members.
2005- Marshall and UCF leave the MAC but the MAC having weathered the attendance requirements is now more entrenched in Division 1-A then ever. Temple is looking for a football home from Big East exodus with the MAC hoping its basketball program will someday come on board.
2010- Temple has no where else to go but MAC and WKU is ready with its upgraded football stadium to be a productive basketball playing school in the MAC. Its an all sports decision that has to be accounted for in the modern sports world.
Its the first time an expansion move has been exclusively geared around basketball. The MAC is maxing out its potential as a non BCS conference and needs basketball for growth.
2015- Temple and WKU have elevated the MAC to a 3 bid conference that is usually rated above the A-10 and MVC. Now the MAC is attractive for UMass and Ill. State to make an all sports decision and join the FBS ranks of the Mid American.
The MAC at 16 members totally loses the Ohio-Michigan conference feel that plagued it in the early 90's.
16 teams?
::shakes head::
I really see no value in adding Temple for all sports to either party. I have yet to see a compelling reason why its necessary and how it benefits any of the institutions. I hope its all speculation at this point... we will all see.
Krocker Krapp Wrote:Why are some people, or media sources, acting like the MAC having 14 teams is something new and unprecedented? That was also the previous membership size in 2002, 2003, and 2004 when Marshall and Central Florida were around.
There is some apprehension of moving beyond 12 schools for football reasons. I understand that.
The MAC is doing this move to 14 (eventually 16) for men's basketball using its strength as an all sports FBS conference as a selling point.
Its kind of like the Atlantic 10 expanding with Dayton, Xavier and later Charlotte and St. Louis. Are there too many teams in the A-10? Certainly but the footprint has been expanded.
Temple and WKU are going to be transformational members of MAC basketball. Those are two programs that have traditions that will rank as #1 and #2 in MAC basketball right from the beginning. You are placing those traditions in a group of already strong mid major schools and they could take the MAC to not only 2 bids but possibly as many as 3 or 4 NCAA qualifiers.
Within a few years the MAC will be at least as good if not better than the MVC/A-10, that will open the way for UMass and IL State to join then things will be even more tilted in favor of the MAC.
The upper 8 programs of MAC hoops would be
Temple
UMass
Kent
Ohio
Miami
Ball State
Western Kentucky
Ill. State
It would be like the A-10 where only the top 8 or so programs are shown on ESPN but it would be a very positive national image for MAC basketball worthy of far more TV coverage then only Kent, Ohio, Miami, and Ball State alone.
With (UMass, Temple, WKU, ISU) the MAC would be the MVC on steroids.
uakronkid Wrote:It seems like a good idea right now, and if it happens the MAC will become the largest D-I football conference in the nation. I am not sure what that will create in terms of national perception. Maybe we should strike a marketing deal with McDonalds and change the name of the conference to the Big-MAC.
This is going to be like ACC expansion in football. Is the ACC at 12 teams as strong as the SEC?, no but the idea was to create a PAC 10 on steroids up and down the Atlantic Coast.
The MAC going to 14/16 in basketball ain't going to be the Big East. Its not going to be an 8 bid conference selling out 20,000 seat arenas.
What the MAC is stiving for is to create a MVC on steroids where basketball is strong enough at the top to put 3-4 into the NCAAs in a regular year. A much more extensive TV package on ESPN in basketball worthy of a top 10 conference.
Its long where the MAC has wanted to be in men's basketball.